NOVEMBER 19, 2003

Life in the closet. Oh yes the entire Queer
population has been there. Trust me.

And many, many more still reside there.
The question is...why? The closet looks a lot
like this: a dark place of refuge. You are safer
in the closet than you are standing at a podi-
um, but you often find yourself jealous of
those giving the speeches, all the while try-
ing not to get caught listening to what they
are saying.

You live your life as.a bold-faced lie. You
walk around and pretend you are straight,
you make comments you don’t believe
about the opposite sex simply so you'll fit in
with your peers. Generally you feel a little
confused. You question your sexuality and
know that you are somehow different but
hope that it’s only a passing phase. You
think you are the only one in the world who
has these feelings. YOU aren’t supposed to
feel this way. Being gay is for other people!
You might be Christian, you might be
Jewish, you might be of any other religion
that taught you that being gay was wrong.
. You might not be of any belief system at all.
You could be anyone.

You do take notice of certain things; you
notice gay literature, you hide in your bed-
room just so you can read Out On Campus
without getting caught, you notice gay char-
acters on TV, you notice gay people at your
school. You might even resent them.
Convince yourself they are dirty and gross.
You, my friend are in the. closet. Don’t get

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Come Out, Come O

me wrong! There is a lot of good things in
that closet. As long as you keep that door
closed you protect yourself from being
exposed to the elements, chances are that
they won't let you down if they can’t reach
you. But consider your life lived like that of
an animal who never leaves its den. You
never truly get to socialize freely, you never
really get out to enjoy life as the person you
are, and you are going to miss out on a lot of
things that are out there for you to enjoy and
explore. :

The question really being asked here is,
why bother coming out and what exactly
does that mean anyway? Why is it gay peo-
ple feel the need to let everyone know that
they gay? To come out is almost synony-
mous with being true to yourself. If you are
gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or however you
might think of yourself, coming out essen-
tially means embracing your true sexual
identity. Coming out is not the end all and
be all of your sexual identity problems

though. It is not a quick and easy fix. It is, in.

fact, a process.

This process is very different for each and
every person who has ever stepped their
foot out of the closet doors. It can be one of
the most terrifying events in your life, but on
the contrary, it can be one of the most incred-
ible experiences you may ever encounter.
Coming out to yourself, and coming out to
people you know and love are two very dif-
ferent things. One of the largest benefits to

being publicly out, is that the more people
who know you, and know you are gay, the
more people who are going to be affected by
you and your life. That is to say, in general,
those people who encounter or maintain
friendships with people who are gay, les-
bian, bisexual, or whatever, are more likely
to support their quest for equality. In many
cases, a homophobic person’s ideologies can
change once they realize that one of their
friends is gay, upon realizing that their
friend is still a great individual despite being
gay. It’s hard to hate someone because of
such a thing as sexuality after you have
already gotten to know them.

However, that is not to say its going to be
all roses and sunshine either. When a person
does publicly come out of the closet, they do
risk a lot: harassment, loss for friends, lack
of support in your family, or tension in the
work place are all possible negative out-
comes among many others. However, in the
long run, one must believe that the public
impact of having homosexual figures is
much greater than the negative. In this
aspect, coming out is part of making the
invisible minority more visible. If the public
is aware that homosexuals are an active part
of the community, then perhaps they are
more willing to embrace the minority, rather
then reject it. SM

Coming out can give you a sense of
belonging, a sense of community. Once you
have accepted your own sexuality, it is easi-

CULTURE 17

Out on Campus
ut wherever you are!!!

er to look for support, or just for people who
can relate to your experiences and emotion-
al journey. Essentially, you can be part of a
much larger family, if you so choose.
Basically, once you come out, you are able to
realize that you aren’t alone.

No matter how you look at it, coming out
isn’t a destination, it’s a life long journey. No
one will have the exact same paths to follow,
and its likely one of the most personal things
a person can experience. There are a lot of
reasons to be afraid of coming out of the
closet, and many of them are justified, but
there are a great deal more benefits to taking
that step forward, and not only allowing
yourself to believe that its okay to be gay,
but to make a larger impact all tegether.
People feel that the only way we will stop
the discrimination gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender people face is to reveal our true
selves to our friends, families, neighbors and
elected officials who have the power to
change the laws that affect our lives.

Whatever the case, its your life, its your

choice, and essentially, there is nothing more
personal or liberating then living the life you
need / want to live, the way you want to live
it.

Michael J. Cruickshank

The opinions expressed in the preceding
article are those of the author, and do not
necessarily reflect those of PrideUNBC

Educationville

by Josh Hammerstedt

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